Plenty of across-the-pond listeners have said
oui to the pop-rock band, whose sunny, synth-heavy melodies (and English lyrics) have
propelled the quartet from its origin in Versailles, France, to arena-sized gigs throughout the
world.

Much like a fine wine, though, the recipe took time.

“When we started doing music, nobody in France thought it was even possible to release a record
that would be successful outside of France,” said guitarist Laurent Brancowitz, who with Phoenix
will perform tonight in Lifestyle Communities Pavilion.

“We love the fact that we are not following the footsteps of anyone.”

Formed in 1999, the group found a wider audience a decade ago after the song
Too Young was featured prominently in the Sofia Coppola art-house film
Lost in Translation. (Coppola later married Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars.)

In 2009, the band’s album
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix made a mainstream splash with quirky-yet-listenable singles
1901 and
Lisztomania. It won a Grammy award for best alternative album.

No one was more surprised than the musicians.

“We did it with a very free state of mind,” said Brancowitz, 39, who recalled dusty
Wolfgang sessions in a studio under construction. “We had no label, and we had the feeling
we were doing very weird music with no idea it would resonate like it did.”

Such ignorance might ultimately have benefitted the Phoenix men, who grew up absorbing a varied
swath of music that ranged from the Pixies and My Bloody Valentine to country and new-wave pop.

As such, their flight path continues a tad off-center.

In April, the Phoenix foursome found viral buzz after reaching out to controversial R&B
singer R. Kelly — who agreed to appear with the indie band during a slot at the Coachella festival
in Palm Desert, Calif., where the two parties merged Kelly’s hits
Ignition and
I’m A Flirt with the backbone melody of
1901.

Said Brancowitz: “We always listen to his music when we’re about to go onstage. (Kelly) pushes
the limit, sometimes a bit too far. People are always happy to see something they didn’t
expect."

The band is touring to promote its latest effort, 2013’s
Bankrupt! Even with high-end resources at their disposal, the artists opted to record “
with not a lot of gear in a small apartment ... a very little and cool studio.”

Success didn’t paralyze them.

“It pushed us to be a bit more courageous and maybe more stupid than usual,” Brancowitz
said.

Still, there’s a thread of unease in the latest work, one that the band said mirrors a fear of
balancing on the edge between failure and fame.

“There has not been a huge step; it’s always been slightly bigger and bigger,” Brancowitz said. “
Even now, we play big arenas in New York or maybe Paris. But the day after, we could play a very
small club in Switzerland.